News

This past summer, three WashU students joined peers from around the world for Korea University’s Climate Corps Summer School, where they designed and pitched solutions to pressing climate challenges.

Mitra Naseh, assistant professor at the WashU Brown School, will receive the Beacon Award from the International Institute of St. Louis at its 2026 Ubuntu Gala on November 6. The recognition highlights her community-engaged research supporting the integration of Afghan and other refugee communities in St. Louis.

WashU historian Marjan Wardaki explores how Afghan and Indian scientists forged international networks in interwar Germany, using science and technology to challenge British imperial power. Her research reexamines Afghanistan’s role as a center of scientific innovation and anticolonial collaboration.

Farahnaz Tooryalai’s journey from Afghanistan to St. Louis is a story of resilience, opportunity and a determination to continue her career in health care. After relocating to the United States in 2022 and overcoming significant personal and professional challenges, Tooryalai found a new pathway through the WashU Medical Apprenticeship Program.

The silkworm moth, whose caterpillars have been used in silk production since antiquity, may have been brought to southern Central Asia 4,000 years ago — nearly 2,000 years earlier than previously assumed — according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Psychological and brain sciences PhD graduate Merve Ileri-Tayar, a native of Cankiri, Turkey, earned the 2025 Dean’s Award for Graduate Research Excellence and was named a McDonnell International Scholar. She will continue her research on attention, cognitive control, and goal-directed behavior as she pursues a career in cognitive psychology.

Nine recent WashU alumni and one current student received Fulbright awards to teach English or to conduct research abroad during the 2026-27 academic year. Established in 1946, the prestigious Fulbright program recognizes talented leaders and scholars and strives to increase global collaboration and fellowship.

From Singapore to Azerbaijan and beyond, sovereign wealth funds reflect national promises to invest in strategic priorities. In Kazakhstan, an important promise has been kept for a third consecutive year.

For the second consecutive year, Xiang Hui, associate professor of marketing at WashU Olin Business School, has received the Olin Award. His winning research, co-authored with scholars at Nanyang Technological University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, examines an AI copilot used in China’s real estate market.

Staff of UNICEF China gathered in-person and online for a briefing on Child Development Account (CDA) policy by scholars from the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis and Peking University.